GROUNDWATER
z Main source of drinking water
GE Engineering
E i i z Utmost important: survival, public health &
Groundwater Flow
GROUNDWATER FLOW TERMINALOGY
- Hydraulic Cycle & Groundwater
z Water circulatory process on earth is called
hydraulic cycle
z Water evaporates from ocean into atmosphere
unceasingly
z Water vapour moves through atmosphere and
eventually returns to the ocean through one or
more routest e.g. a portion
ti precipitates
i it t over oceans
& another over the land, becomes runoff (in
streams/rivers) and flows back to oceans
oceans, some
infiltrates into subsurface
z Protect against contamination
environment
z Improper waste disposal caused contamination
z Alreadyy contaminated need remediation
z Prevent future occurrence by proper design of
waste disposal facilities
z GE engineer need to understand the
OCCURRENCE and MOVEMENT of groundwater
to design and evaluate potential for contamination
& disposal
di l ffacilities
iliti
SUBSURFACE WATER
z Exist in two zones: unsaturated zone called vadose zone on top and
saturated zone below
z Unsaturated zone consists of solid (soil) and soil pores fill to varying
degree with air and water (i.e. solid, liquid and gas or solid + fluid)
z Saturated zone consists of water-filled pores (i.e. solid & liquid) , water
there called groundwater & assumed at hydrostatic pressure
pressure, which is
equal or greater than atmospheric pressure.
z The water level which is equal to the atmospheric pressure is known as
groundwater table
table.
z Generally, a zone of soil may be saturated just above the groundwater
table due to capillary rise & this zone is called capillary zone or capillary
fringe
z Focus only groundwater flow within saturated zone & it occurs
whenever hydraulic gradient (change in head per unit distance) exist
z Flow in unsaturated zone refers to others
 UNCONFINED AQUIFER
AQUIFER AQUICLUDE & AQUITARD
AQUIFER,
zAquifer: a geologic unit that can store and zAp permeable formation with p phreatic surface ((i.e.
water table) on top that fluctuates with recharge
transmit water. and discharge, e.g. from a pumping well
zVarious formations; common ones in z Generally
G ll close
l to groundd surface
f with
i h water
permeable soils (sand, gravel & permeable table in direct contact with atmosphere
rocks like sandstones) z Special one: perched aquifer
aquifer- occurs when
precipitation moves downward thru unsaturated
zTwo categories/types depending on geologic zone meets a low permeability (e.g. clay within
environments
i t that
th t they
th occur: unconfined
fi d & sand) of limited areal extent. The water
confined accumulated on top of restricting layer (clay) and
formed a perched water table
table. This yield
temporary or small quantity of water.

CONFINED AQUIFER
z A permeable zone between 2 geologic formations of
AQUICLUDE & AQUITARD
relatively low permeability
p
z Completely y saturated without free water table z The unconfined & confined aquifers
q are
z Water trapped under pressure characterised by the separated by boundaries known as confining
potentiometric surface. layers which subdivided into Aquicludes &
z Potentiometric surface (PS) represents the total head in the Aquitards.
q
confined aquifer, i.e. the height above a datum plane at which z Aquicludes is essentially an impermeable
the water level stands in tightly cased well that penetrates the
aquifer OR simply the water level will rise above the bottom confining layer
off overlying
l i confining
fi i llayer tto an elevation
l ti att which
hi h it iis equall z Aquitards
A it d iis a llow permeable
bl confining
fi i llayer
to the atmospheric pressure if the aquifer is penetrated by a that store groundwater and transmit slowly from
well. one aquifer to another
z Thus,
Th the
th depends
d d on geologic
l i setting,
tti PS may b
be above
b th
the
top of the ground surface, causing the water to flow upward z An aquifer bounded by an aquitard is often
from a spring or a confined aqufer (special name: artesian called a leaky semi-confined acquifer
acquifer)
 HYDRAULIC HEAD
AND HYDRAULIC HEAD
ACQUIFER PROPERTIES z Groundwater moves thru subsurface from area
of greater to area of lower hydraulic head
z At any location within the subsurface, hydraulic
Groundwater flows depends on head is defined by Bernoullis
Bernoulli s equation
1) slope of hydraulic head OR hydraulic z Total hydraulic head= elevation head + fluid
pressure head + fluid velocity head
gradient and
gradient, i.e. ht = z + p/(g) + v2/2g
2) aquifer properties, e.g. porosity, specific z Below the water table in the saturated zone,
yield hydraulic conductivity,
yield, conductivity transmissivity
transmissivity, pressure head [hp= p/(g)] is greater than
atmospheric pressure (hp>0)
and storativity. z Groundwater velocities usually low thus velocity
h d iis neglected.
head l t d ThThus: ht = z + p/(g)
/( )

HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY OR POROSITY, n

PERMEABILITY { Porosity (n): The ratio of volume of void
space to the total volume of medium,
i.e. n= Vv/Vt
z The pproperty
p y of a p
porous medium that p
permits the where Vv= vol of void space
transmission of water thru it Vt = total volume
{ Governed by the grain packing, grain
shape and grain size distribution
z Describe by Darcy
Darcyss law as: { T i l n vales
Typical l are:
v = ki then Q = A ki where i = dh/dL
Clay & silt: 0.5
Fine sand: 0.45
where Medium sand: 0.4
Coarse sand: 0.35
Q= volumetric flow Fine gravel: 0.33
k = hydraulic
h d li conductivity
d ti it Medium gravel: 0 0.25
25
Coarse gravel: 0.19
A = cross sectional area of flow Limestone: 0.29
h = total hydraulic
y head Sandstone: 0.11
Granite: 0.1
L = distance of flow between two points Basalt: 0.11
 POROSITY,, n SPECIFIC YIELD
{ It is an index of how much groundwater can be stored in the
saturated material BUT does not indicate how much water the z During the drainage of water from unconfined
porous material will yield aquifers by gravity forces, only a part of total
{ It is an index of how much groundwater can be stored in the volume stored in void space is released
saturated
t t d material
t i l BUT d
does nott iindicate
di t h how much
h water
t ththe
porous material will yield z This drainage behaviour is defined by specific
{ Effective porosity (ne) yield (Sy) and specific retention (Sr) of an aquifer
= (vol of void space thru which flow occurs)/total vol z Sy = vol of water drains from saturated material
{ Effective porosity (ne) is needed for seepage calculations due to gravity/total vol of the material.
{ As
A partt off total it is
t t l porosity i occupied
i dbby static
t ti flfluid
id b
being
i h held
ld tto
the mineral surface by surface tension the effective porosity is
less than total porosity

TRANSMISSIVITY SPECIFIC STORAGE AND STORATIVITY

z A measurement of the amount of water than can z In any aquifer, hydraulic head is reduced due to
be transmitted horizontally thru a unit width by lowering of water table or potentiometric surface
fully saturated thickness of an aquifer under a occurs, say, during pumping a well, water is
hydraulic gradient equals to 1. released or expelled from aquifer due to
z Thus, Transmissivity, T = hydraulic conductivity 1)compressibility of aquifer solid skeleton
(k) x aquifer saturated thickness (b) (l
(lowering
i off hhydraulic
d li h headd causes a ddrop iin
z Due to above, T varies at diff. locations within pwp and increase in effective stress --
confined
fi d aquifers
if off diff
different thickness
hi k or consolidation) and 2)compressibility of water
consolidation),
saturated thickness that varies with water table (decrease in pwp causes pore water to expand)
SPECIFIC STORAGE AND STORATIVITY

zSpecific Storage
Storage, Ss = amount of water
released (or expelled) from an aquifer (for
two reasons) per unit volume per unit
change in hydraulic head (h)
Ss = wg (+n)
where
w= water density, g = acc due to gravity, n=porosity,
=compressibility

1. Understand the occurrence and movement of GROUNDWATER FLOW IN AQUIFERS

groundwater is essential for designing remedial
systems and evaluate potential for
contamination at waste disposal facilities
2. Describe groundwater flow behaviour in
aquifers and toward pumping well
3. The basic for each of the common field tests to
d t
determine
i aquifer
if h
hydraulic
d li propertiesti
4. Mathematical modeling of groundwater flow
z Occur in three dimensions
z Aquifer may be anisotropic and heterogeneous
z Anisotropic: hydraulic conductivity varies with direction of
measurement at a point within a formation
z Heterogeneous: within the same direction hydraulic
conductivity varies
z General governing equations describe groundwater flow
in anisotropic, heterogeneous confined and unconfined
aquifers
z Simplified general flow equations for isotropic and
homogeneous aquifers conditions
 FLOW IN CONFINED AQUIFER

zGeneral flow equation is derived from the

application of law of mass conservation or
continuity equation to the elemental
volume
zContinuity is: rate of mass accumulation =
rate of mass inflow rate of mass outflow